Four days ago, when United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann insisted it is "not realistic" to think the Americans can win the World Cup, he was torched in the U.S. media by reporters, columnists and former American soccer players who wondered why he would concede defeat before his team had even played a game.

One day before the U.S. opener, Klinsmann seemed to backtrack on those comments -- perhaps smarting from the backlash from critics who also wondered if a German could understand the American drive to compete against all odds.

"I booked my flight after the final," Klinsmann said Sunday at a press conference at Arena das Dunas in the northeastern Brazilian city of Natal.

The U.S. opens its tournament play Monday with a 6 p.m. ET match against Ghana in Natal in Group G. Also in the "Group of Death" are Portugal and Germany.

"No matter what the circumstances are, no matter how our game goes, this group (team) is ready to go the extra mile to make it happen tomorrow," Klinsmann said.

Klinsmann, a star striker, won a World Cup with West Germany in 1990, and coached Germany (unified by then) to the World Cup semifinals in 2006. Sunday, he said that despite his earlier remarks that seemed to predict defeat, he still expects the Americans to compete hard -- and win.

"We come in with the same effort, the same drive, the same energy and ambition to do well. And we want to do really well," Klinsmann said.

"That's why we worked more than four weeks on our preparation, we timed it the right way to give the players the confidence they need to beat Ghana tomorrow. This is step one, then comes Portugal and then comes Germany. And then we'll see. Expectations in the United States are very high."

Expectations in the United States -- which loves a good underdog story -- are always high. And while those hopes now run smack into history -- the Americans' previous two Cup runs have ended with losses to Ghana -- the U.S. is bolstered by an upset posted by Costa Rica.

"We want to follow up on that," Klinsmann said.

Added midfielder Michael Bradley: "We talked the whole time about using the warm-up games for what they were -- chances to build confidence and momentum, but in reality those games are over and playing in the World Cup is different to any friendly or warm-up games.

"Now it's all about stepping on the field and playing in a World Cup and playing against Ghana, so our main focus is on what's coming up and not what happend a few weeks ago."